BBQ season is upon us and there are so many places in Wales now offering delicious barbecue-style food to enjoy. As the weather hopefully remains dry these restaurants are the perfect place to visit for a taste of summer.
You can keep up to date with the latest What's On news by signing up to the newsletter here. Here's our pick of the places that should be on your 'must-visit' list and what to order when you get there...
1. Pulled pork at Flamin' Joes's BBQ
This restaurant, which started out in a dairy farm car park, has become a must for authentic slow BBQ lovers. You can order brisket from Carmarthenshire cattle or pulled pork, ribs or 'HillyBilly doughnuts, which are a serving of burger meat wrapped in cheese wrapped in bacon, smoked and then glazed.
The pulled pork is an American barbecue dish, more specifically a dish of the Southern U.S., based on shredded barbecued pork shoulder. They slow-smoke the pork over local hardwood for 10+ hours so the meat breaks down into a pull-apart sweet/savoury morsel of enlightenment. The meat is then shredded manually and mixed with a sauce. It may be served on bread or eaten on its own.
They make their own sauces, bacon and the meat is smoked for hours on end to achieve the perfect, tender dinners, which customers from nearby and afar - Texas and Jersey diners - have given the BBQ-sauce slathered thumbs up to.
The restaurant is at Pencoed Fach Farm, just outside Blackwood and with a very impressive menu it is not one to miss. You can read more about Flamin' Joes's here.
Flamin' Joe's BBQ, Pencoed Fach Pumpkin Farm, Bedwellty Road, Blackwood NP12 0BQ. You can call 07726309019 or visit the website here.
2. Beer Dog Tap & Tân
This Tenby courtyard restaurant where you can watch your meat being cooked over woodfire in front of you is relaxed dining and easy drinking under the same roof. Matt Flowers is the chef and brains behind Tap & Tân and he has a background in fine dining and having honed his skills in some of Pembrokeshire's best restaurants, Matt is showcasing his passion for local, quality ingredients cooked over fire.
Items on the menu include Beer Dog - Feast's house sausage is made with Tenby Brewing Co. beer and smoked and grilled over the coals, before being served up with caramelised and pickled onions, a garlic mayo and Tap & Tân's very own BBQ sauce (which you can buy on your way out). It's juicy and plump and lightly charred - a hot dog elevated to something far superior yet still immensely satisfying.
There is also bigger joints of lamb shoulder, beef rib and pork shoulder - all sourced as locally as possible - which are cooked long and slow in the smoker next to the grill. It makes for intensely-flavoured super-juicy pulled meats that simply fall off the bone and straight into soft brioche buns from Rock and Dough, an artisan bakery in Maenclochog. Read more about Tap & Tân here.
Tap & Tân, Food Quarter, The Mews, Upper Frog St, Tenby SA70 7JD. You can call 01834218090 or visit the website here.
3. BBQ ribs at The George Inn
There are so many places selling ribs but if you want giant pieces of meat that literally falls from the bone and is smothered in the most delicious sticky barbecue sauce then you have to visit this country pub on the outskirts of Swansea.
The BBQ ribs , priced from £19.95, can be ordered with a choice of seasoned chips, jacket potato, new potatoes sor saute potatoes. You can upgrade to sweet potato fries for a extra pound but be warned, all the dishes come with homemade coleslaw and half corn on the cob and and the portions are huge.
The George Inn, Heol Gwys, Upper Cwmtwrch, Swansea SA9 2XH. Visit here for the website.
4. Southern Comfort at The Smoke Haus
The menu of this diner - which has restaurants in Swansea and Cardiff - is rooted in the traditions of good old American barbecue from way down South. The meat is slow-cooked over a real wood fire - after all, the smoke is the essential ingredient.
If you're after a challenge, order the Southern Comfort which costs £18.99 and includes a beef burger, American cheese, whole coated chicken breast, bacon, fried onions & garlic mayonnaise. There's also slaw and skin on fries.
Smoke Haus, Wind Street, Swansea, SA1 1EE and Mary Ann Street, Cardiff, CF10 2EN. Visit here.
5. Beef Brisket at The Smoke House
Not to be confused with Smoke Haus, this restaurant in a Cardiff suburb is a stripped-back venue which has brought US-style barbecue food to Pontcanna. The hickory burning smoker adds the flavours of the South to the dishes, which includes this main dish featuring beef brisket , seasoned skin-on chips and house red cabbage slaw. Perfect together.
The beef brisket costs £19 and the beef is simply rubbed with salt and cracked black pepper then slow cooked for 12 hours until tender.
The Smoke House, 77 Pontcanna St, Cardiff CF11 9HS. Call 029 2034 4628 or go to the website here.
6. Welsh native breed featherblade brisket at Bab Haus
With two places to enjoy their superb low and slow BBQ, you are spoilt for choice when it comes to Bab Haus. The family run business operate in their Bab Haus HQ 'Smoke shop' in Caerphilly and Bab Haus Mex in Goodsheds Barry.
The business is owned by chef Leyli Homayoonfar, who was named one of the 100 most influential women in hospitality in the UK in 2021, Leyli’s already built a big reputation for the colourful Mexican BBQ which she sells from her Bab Haus Mex street food stall at the Goodsheds in Barry. One of the things that makes Bab Haus so good is that Leyli sources her meat from the highly-regarded Gower-based butchers, Meat Matters. With a legion of fans, from Michelin-starred chefs to professional rugby players, their meat is known to sell out in minutes.
The Welsh native breed featherblade brisket (£10) is seriously beefy, fall-apart tender and blushing pink around the edges from its 12-hour smoking over hickory and oak. Stuffed into a light and sweet demi-brioche bun with delicately fiery pickled chillies and a smear of barbecue and chipotle mayo sauces, this is a top tier brisket bun.
The menu includes bacon cheeseburger (£11.50), pork belly burnt ends (£10) and loaded cheese and chorizo skins (£6). All of these go down a treat and you can read our review here.
Bab Haus HQ, Unit 12, Greenway Workshops, Bedwas Industrial Estate, CF838HW and Bab Haus Mex, Goodsheds Barry, Unit 3 Goodsheds, Hood Road, CF625QR, Barry. You can visit the website here.
7. Empire Stack Cattle & Co
Cattle & Co in Llanelli are known for their unique take on beautifully smoked, tender brisket and twists on comfort classics such as Mac 'n' Cheese. Their menu includes pulled Mushroom BBQ Bun burgers, beef brisket, the Empire Stack burger and the BBQ Meat Platter.
The Empire Stack is a huge burger with many beef patties and a onion ring to enjoy. Can you take on the challenge?
The restaurant is planning to also open in Swansea, you can read more about that here, and co-owner Rebecca Mace said: “Having the space to really expand what we’re able to offer is what we’re most excited about. Aside from the restaurant across the bottom two floors, the new location will also include an American- style sports bar on the middle floor which will be available for private hire, as well as a more exclusive, luxury cocktail bar on the top floor with a planned expansion for a VIP room.”
8. Hot Smoked Welsh Lamb Rib Rack at The Rib Smokehouse
You wouldn't necessarily think of popping to the Celtic Manor Resort for your southern food fix but now you can.
The Rib is the latest restaurant to be opened at the luxury hotel complex and the main meal which has caught our eye is the Hot Smoked Welsh Lamb Rib Rack which is smoked with hickory wood and herbs and marinated with The Rib special blend rub finished with chipotle chilli, served with house fries and slaw.
Starters include Korean Crispy Smoked Chicken Wings (£7.50) and smoked pork ribs (£8.50).
The Celtic Manor, Coldra Woods, The Usk Valley, Caerleon, Newport NP18 1HQ. Visit here.
9. Smokehouse nachos at Hickory's Smokehouse
The company bases its restaurants on the family-friendly diners and bars in the southern States and trips to American (for research purposes, of course) have included journeys from Texas to Tennessee and from Missouri to Mississippi. And one of our the eye-catching items on the menu is nachos topped with pulled pork for £9.50 - after all, while we love both of these things you don't often get them served together.
The nachos come with sour cream, avocado mayo, gooey cheese and jalapeños and then you choose if to add lightly spiced tomato salsa or 14 hour smoked pulled pork.
Hickory's Smokehouse, Llandudno Road, Rhos-on-Sea, LL28 4TR. Visit the website here.
10. Wings at Smokd Kitchen
Found in the Friars Walk shopping centre in Newport is the independent Smokd Kitchen. The restaurant serves up a mouth-watering variety of slow-cooked meats, dirty nachos, burgers, wings, vegan options and desserts.
Working with local suppliers as much as possible, Smokd has a fully-stocked restaurant bar with beer taps from Glamorgan Brewing Company and will use spirits from Newport distillery Spirit of Wales in its cocktails. The star of the show is a galvanised steel tray of two, three or four meats including ribs, house brisket, sausage, beef or chicken, served with fries, coleslaw and a pickled tray. Trays start in price at £15.
The chicken wings are also very popular and very Wednesday they serve unlimited wings. You can get the wings in six different flavours, Smokd, hot, BBQ, lemon pepper, Korean or cauli. Wing prices start at £8 and all the wings are seasoned in house rub and then smokd in hickory-yummy!
Also on offer is a packed burger section and desserts including fresh homemade donuts with ice cream. You can read more about Smokd Kitchen here.
11. Spanish steak at Asador 44
Asador 44 in Cardiff is the first in Wales to offer the 'asador-style' of cooking. So while it's not like your traditional US-style of barbecue food, it offers the Spanish take on chargrilled cooking.
The restaurant has a bespoke grill which chargrills some of the world's finest meat. Asador restaurants are a way of life in Southern Spain and brothers Owen and Tom Morgan, who run Asador 44, wanted to introduce this method in Wales. They have a huge selection of Welsh beef, steaks, fish and vegetables to chargrill, available across their different menus.
Asador 44, 14-15 Quay Street, Cardiff CF10 1EA. Visit here.
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